Why are they easier to clean if left in the cooler for a day or two?

I hate catching catfish. If I accidently do I look for a kid or a guy trying to feed his family and tell him if he'll get that slimy critter off my hook it's his.

The current regulations no longer allow a guide (including a deckhand) to retain fish towards a separate limit.

From TPWD regs: "The bag limit for a guided fishing party is equal to the total number of persons in the boat licensed to fish or otherwise exempt from holding a license minus each fishing guide and fishing guide deckhand multiplied by the bag limit for each species harvested."

The guide can catch & keep fish, but those fish are part of the client's limit. So for example, a guide takes two guys out for sandbass. Limit on sandbass is 25 per person. The boat can have a maximum of 50 sandbass, not 75, in the cooler when they get back to the dock.

I always catch and keep my sand bass when I fish the river in my boat.
I use very light tackle and do it for the fun of it.
I guarantee you there is someone trying to catch dinner near the ramp that will gladly put those fish to good use. Sand Bass multiply by the thousands and the TPW has a good handle on the daily bag limit, so what I catch and give away does not hurt the SB population, but I sure bet it makes someone back at the ramp real happy.
Catch and release those sporting bass
Catch and give those Sandies

I suspect that if a game warden comes by the fish will count toward the limit of the person in possession of the fish when he is there.

Zeek,

Yes, I understand what you posted. I didn't explain as good as your post. The guide contributes to each person's limit. I didn't know about the new regulations. Thanks for posting.

I agree.

Yeap i always keep other speices then large mouth and fine � bank fishermen to give them to. They alway apperciate it.

That's probably true about the warden. Then again, who gives fish to a person with a full stringer?

Anyway, I'd probably find it a bit odd receiving fish from a complete stranger or giving them to the same. Though, if I had been fishing with the guy all morning and he was just having a slow day, I might give a few away or vice versa. And I'll give and receive fish freely among friends. It makes everybody's day a little better to go home with something.

I don't know why you would feel odd about giving fish to a stranger who wants them.

My slip is across from the fishing barge and I give white bass to those fishing the barge all the time. There is always somebody on the fishing barge who is happy to receive the white bass to eat. Many can not catch enough to make a meal for themselves so they appreciate the fish you give them.

I always tell them I have measured them to ensure they are legal as I do not keep anything under 11" so I am sure they are legal.

And I know how they feel, since I have had trouble the last four months catching five keeper crappie each trip to make a meal for myself.

There isn't a gray area of the law on this. What you catch counts against your bag limit alone. You can give fish to someone else and they can still catch their own bag limit too.

What you have to do when giving anyone any type wildlife resource is give them a Wildlife Resource Document (WRD). This applies to hunting and fishing both.

An example of the WRD is in the Outdoor Annual and you can make a copy of that and just fill it in when you want to give someone else fish or they give you fish. Its a win win.

Just make sure what someone else tries to give is legal to begin with and no worries.

I sure like having a game warden on here wth us. Thanks for joining!

And thanks for their service....been hunting and fishing in Texas for 60 years and those guys do a great job of keeping our outdoor experience the best that it can be.

I think it would feel odd if someone asked. If I decide to keep a fish then I've got a plan for it. Then again, I can be a bit awkward at times so maybe that's it. And if someone watched me catch a legal keeper that I planned to release I'd have no problem with giving it away.

So every time you give a fish away you must fill out a document to give to the person receiving the fish.

An act of kindness becomes a pain in the rear due to paperwork being required to give a fish to somebody who wants it to eat.

I suspect if this was enforced very few fish would be given away.